Importance

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Abstract

A quadrature RF coil assembly (48) is employed for quadrature excitation and/or reception in an open or vertical field magnetic resonance apparatus. The quadrature RF coil (48) includes a plurality of parallel rung elements (70, 72, 74, 76, 78). A pair of electrical conductive end segments (80, 82) connect the plurality of rung elements. Capacitive elements (C.sub.V, C.sub.A) interrupt a central rung element and the end segments. Preferably, the capacitive elements (C.sub.V, C.sub.A) are arranged in a high-pass configuration such that the two highest resonant modes, an odd mode (90) and an even mode (92), are tuned to have peak responsivity to a common imaging frequency. The odd mode (90) is responsive to magnetic fields which are normal to the coil (48), while the even mode is responsive to magnetic fields which are parallel to the coil (48) and perpendicular to the main magnetic field. In one embodiment, the quadrature coil (48) is curved such that it is partially wrapped around a portion of a subject (100) with the rung elements of the coil (48) parallel to the main magnetic field B.sub.0. The quadrature coil (48) provides improved B.sub.1 field uniformity and greater tuning stability due to reduced localized electric field effects. The coil (48) provides greater accessibility for interventional procedures conducted in a vertical field or open magnetic resonance imaging system.

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First Claim